On becoming a coach: Narratives of learning and development

• Published in: Coaching psychologist 2022-12, Vol.18 (2), p.4-19
• Main Authors: Rajasinghe, D., Garvey, B., Smith, W.A., Burt, S., Barosa-Pereira, A., Clutterbuck, D., Csigas, Z.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coaching; Exceptions; Interpretative phenomenological analysis; Learning; Maturation; Narratives; Research methodology
• ISSN: 1748-1104; 1748-1104
• DOI: 10.53841/bpstcp.2022.18.2.4

Coach maturation: understanding the why, what and how has the potential to influence the coaching profession in its own journey of professionalisation. This paper seeks to provide some insight to how experienced coaches understand their own development processes. With a few exceptions, little has been published on coach development and the literature evidences its strong emphasis on client development leaving a vital knowledge gap in coaches’ learning and development. This study aims to address this void by exploring experienced coaches’ experience of their developmental journeys by employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a research methodology. We purposively selected 46 experienced coaches and interviewed 32 using semi-structured interviews. The findings appeared as a series of narratives, nonlinear, and no logical sequence, it could be defined as ‘messy’. The narratives are: Vehicles of Development, Awareness, Letting Go, Ethical Practice and Characteristics of the Becoming of a Coach. These narratives collectively explain how coaches subjectively approach their often-unplanned development. The findings offer a unique research-based contribution to the literature on coach development with implications for coach education.